charisma
cameos
MOVING MOVIES Gail Kowatch’s first foray into filmmaking has been well received. The CPA consultant directed, wrote and produced The Right Friend, which deals with the aftermath of tragic loss
BEST BETT Gail Kowatch’s First film has won awards at two film festivals.
First Baptist Academy fourth grade teacher Tammie Mihet made an international splash when she delivered a keynote address at the British Educational Training in Technology Show (BETT)
and subsequent recovery process. The 15-min-
in London. At BETT, Mihet shared how her glob-
ute film was accepted by Spiritual Cinema Cir-
ally connected students taught a group of Paki-
cle for its November 2010 DVD, and competed
stani schoolchildren about Florida’s habitats
in seven film festivals. Kowatch says her goal
and explored with Mexican students the links
is to create films that are not only entertaining
between Florida’s and Mexico’s shared history.
but also have meaning and purpose. In the cre-
Equipped with fresh ideas from the conference,
ative pipeline are two feature scripts, an anima-
Mihet next plans to conduct a unit on animal
tion script, a science-fiction novel and a feature
classification with a virtual lesson from an Alas-
film. —Christina Wells
kan sled-dog team and embark with students on an international blogging adventure. —C.W.
SAFE AT HOME John D. Clark Sr. drew on previous experiences as a homicide chief and manufacturing executive to launch Whitestone Group Inc. Although Clark’s primary business is security and asset protection services for the federal government, the rise in gated communities and associated crimes, especially in Southwest Florida, created a logical fit for his firm. The company’s Virtual Access Control Kiosk System integrates techA military academy graduate and Vietnam veteran, John D. Clark Sr. opened a regional office of Whitestone Group Inc. in Naples in 2005. 46 NAPLES ILLUSTRATED
nologies working with a 24/7/365 call center. It relies on state-of-the-art technology for licenseplate capture cameras, license scanners, facial cameras, intercom systems, computers and weatherproof printers to virtually identify and process anyone trying to gain access. —C.W.
Tammie Mihet’s students conducted physics and robotics experiments with nasa scientists.